The hardest battles of life are fought within the chambers of the soul. -David O. McKay
Obstacles are what you see when you take your eyes off of the goal you are trying to reach.
EVENTS
28 January two year anniversary of Mom/Verna's death.
February
3 Melissa Smith, Liam Webber, Calista Mordecai-Smith and Madison Smith
9 Steven Blake
10 Kari Smith Gray
11 Kelli Smith Campbell
12 David and Carol Smith's Anniversary
13 Tyler Smith, Kelly Farley Sharples
18 Teresa Soelberg Bartholomew. Tyler and Kelly Smith Anniversary
19 Steffani Ouimette
20 Shawna Smith
26 Cecilia (Ceci) Smith
28 Linds and Eunjee Smith Anniversary
VERY IMPORTANT upcoming events
21 February-- Hadley Smith and Zach will be married. Manti temple. Reception that night 6-8pm at the Castle Park Event Center in Lindon Utah.
20 March-- Liam Smith and Shaila will be married. Salt Lake temple. Reception the night before (19th).
24 March --Ryan Smith and Abby will be married. Salt Lake temple. Reception that night (24th) in Sandy.
Missionary updates
Cameron in California-(first--from Karen--Cameron gets home on Feb. 11. He will have his homecoming on the 22nd. In Murray (5555 So. 700 W.) the meeting starts at 11:00 am. In Bluffdale (14400 S. 2700 W.) the meeting starts at 2:20 pm. Food after the Bluffdale meeting at my house (2613 W. Clydesdale Cir). Would love to see you all. Thanks, Karen)
So this was a great week. I have a great transfer and I am now in Murrieta California and I am finishing the training of Elder Abraham (everyone remembers his name).
It actually snowed here and we still have snow in a few places from snowing tuesday night. I would send a picture but I forgot to bring my other camera, so I will have to save it for next week.
Things are going really well though and it looks like we will have at least 1 baptism coming up in the next few weeks, and maybe more.
I live with a member of the congregation again and that is a little strange after 5 apartments, but I think I have gotten used to it. I am hastily dejunking in order for all my stuff to fit. We had a wonderful wedding, then baptism on Saturday (I am not smiling for some reason or other but...).
We had a wonderful Sacrament Meeting about building our foundation in Christ.
Everything is good for me, and I hope to get a lot of work done in the time I have left.
Thanks so much, Love you all
Kieren in Brazil-So Friday was exciting. We were just about to start a service project helping to build a house, but suddenly I stepped on a board with a rusty nail sticking up and got blood all over my heart sock that mom gave me and all over my converse. But lest anyone be worried, Irmã Michele took me straight to "Pronto Socorro" and they gave me a tetanus shot and sent me on my merry way. The nail didn´t go in too deep and I was able to get right back to work the next day with only a slight limp!
And it was good that we were able to make visits on Saturday because it was one of the best days ever! We taught a man named Marcos for the first time and he said he would come to church. And guess what? He came to church! I gave Gospel Principles class and we were talking about how we, as children of God, have divine attributes, and we shared a bit about how we have some attributes of our parents. I showed my family photo (everyone is always very impressed with dad´s height) and Marcos happened to have a photo of his dad in his wallet. He said "I get my mustache from my dad..." His dad has one of the biggest caterpillar mustaches I have ever seen. The funny part is, Marcos...doesn´t have a mustache. But anyway it was a good lesson.
Gavin in Mexico-Christmas season here is tomale season. So many tomales! I love it! They're so so so good. Everywhere we go the people are like "hey wanna try a tomale ?"and I'm like "no its okay", I'm very full because, well I've been eating tomales all day. The people say "no no they're super good", so I say alright I'll try one and they bring out three. I am gonna get fat guys. Another popular dish around this time is pozoli. It's a soup with basically a pig in it and its super good. another is menudo which is another soup with a base ingredient of cow stomach. It is delicious. Also on the forever glorious topic of food, I ate cow intestine tacos the other day that were honestly some of the most delicious ones I've ever eaten before. I have yet to try the cheek, tongue, eyes, and brain but plan to eventually.
I'm looking forward to a super fun new year and I hope that all of you do something to make this year extraordinary. Were talking with a super cool guy that basically is making a full 180 with his life. He used to live a pretty rough life but now he's making goals and plans to become a better person. He's been filled with sadness and guilt for a long time and its absolutely amazing to see those things slowly start to leave. That I could have a small part in making his life awesome by bringing him closer to the things that matter most! Orion (a flower I bought) only opens and shows its beauty in the sunlight. lets all do ourselves a favor and be like that, seek out the light and goodness around you so you can spread your petals so to speak and be the awesomest person ever. I love you all and wish you nothing but the best!
FAMILY UPDATES
Katie McKeown--We got to do some fun family things together on days Connor got off work this month. We went up to the mountains again to play in the snow, and this time we found a much better area with better snow and better sledding hills. We had a lot of fun.
We also finished reading the entire Book of Mormon as a family—we started back in September after our Stake President at church asked us to read two chapters a day as a family. It was a lot of reading (especially for Emmeline), but we’re proud we stuck to it, and we got Emmeline a Nephi action figure as a little celebratory prize.
Connor took off work for a few days around Martin Luther King Day so we could take a little vacation. We decided to go to San Diego because Sea World offers free tickets to military once a year. So, we drove to San Diego on a Wednesday, did Sea World on Thursday, went to the San Diego Zoo on Friday, and drove home on Saturday. It was a great trip and a nice break from the regular day-to-day stuff.
Natalie Barlow-Truman spends all day every day saying Poppo (my dad's "Grandpa name"). He is seriously obsessed. He walks around the house saying Poppo, looking for Poppo, finding things of Poppo's. If Poppo is home, he finds Poppo. He is constantly pointing at pictures of Poppo (he recognizes pictures of my dad from 25 years ago!), pointing to Poppo's coat or shoes or slippers and saying Poppo, etc. If he sees Poppo's slippers, he will bring them to Poppo (even if it's all the way down the stairs). If he sees a TV remote, he HAS to bring it to Poppo. No one else can touch it or he cries. It doesn't matter if Poppo left it there on purpose and is in the bathroom or doing dishes or at the computer. He has to bring it to Poppo. If he sees Poppo's phone, he brings it to Poppo (over and over and over, even if dad puts it away and tells Truman to leave it there). As soon as Poppo gets home from work, Truman rushes to the door, begs to be picked up, and then points to Poppo's puppets and wants to play with Poppo. And then he sticks around Poppo as much as he can.
This is a video of Addie throwing popcorn kernels using her Grandpa's gloves, making Truman laugh. I dare you not to smile while watching it!
Addie was obsessed with nativities all during the Christmas season. She drew pictures, played with nativity sets, acted it out (and made me act it out with her), etc. This is one time she arranged nativities. They're arranged on this thing that was packing material in a box that came--she thought it looked like a town so she and Kenny ended up coloring it and decorated it to look like Bethlehem.
Stuart Smith-I HAVE COMPLETED MY 9 WEEKS OF RADIATION !!!! I am now a " rad grad "
The much better than average lack of side effects continued all the way to the end. I can now slowly start going back to normal eating habits :) Never thought I would miss eating a salad ! Fresh (uncooked) vegetables are back in my diet.
Now I wait for 4 months and then take tests to see how successful this has been. Thanks for everyone's prayers.
Stuart also emailed an ancient photo that was fun to see.
Karen Ouimette-Steffani has Seniorites so bad, and has for a while. Though she gets good grades and attends school everyday, she's like her Mom and doesn't like school. She plans on attending Culinary Arts School after graduation. She is a wonderful cook and an even greater baker, mainly because she would rather bake than cook. She saves me many times by cooking dinner. Her favorite is cupcakes. She sells them for earning money for Orchestra tour ( in the Spring - going to San Francisco). The customer can chose when, flavor, frosting, or her gourmet cupcakes. Oreo is the favorite of most people.
PLEASE FOLKS, SEND NEWS!
Work hard, study hard, pray hard, write me news hard. :)
Carol
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